Chapter 537: A Hidden Ritual Site

On a remote cliff in the Tegor Forest.

“Swish!”

With a sound like something tearing through the air, a figure suddenly appeared on the cliff as if teleporting.

Lid, perched on Shien’s head, watched this and commented,

“I didn’t expect your teleportation skill could even pass through the Elven Race’s barrier. It seems its level isn’t low.”

Lid praised.

Shien moved his head, seemingly uncomfortable, or perhaps annoyed at having Lid on his head. He tried to shake it off, but failed.

Lid clung firmly to Shien’s head, unmoving no matter how much he moved.

Shien gave up.

“I only recently realized I could use this skill to pass through barriers.” Shien said, a bit annoyed. “If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have needed to wait for Melika to open the barrier and be stopped by the Elven Corps.”

Teleportation was a rare and special ability, mastered by few besides Spatial Magic users. Although Shien possessed this ability, he hadn’t used it for long and was still exploring its various uses.

The reason he thought of using teleportation to pass through the barrier was because of Leisha.

Shien suddenly remembered that Leisha, as a Spatial Magic user, had infiltrated the capital’s barrier ten years ago, entered the palace, and stolen something related to the Demon King.

Since she could do it, he should be able to as well. Although some high-level barriers could even isolate space itself, preventing teleportation, his [Outer Perception of Heaven’s Decree], having fused numerous skills and reached max level, should be able to handle the Elven Homeland’s barrier.

As a result, Shien successfully brought Lid through the barrier and out of the Elven Homeland.

Otherwise, leaving without resorting to force would have been troublesome. Lid had even considered calling Millu back to use her power.

If Shien hadn’t been able to do this with [Outer Perception of Heaven’s Decree], it wouldn’t have been just the two of them here.

Hearing Shien’s words, Lid shook its head.

“Even if you didn’t open the barrier, you would still have alerted Sophie eventually.” Lid said, “Don’t forget, there’s the Queen’s Palace in the Elven Homeland. Sophie wouldn’t miss the magic power of intruders.” 𝖗𝓪ŊǑᛒЕṦ

“Well, that’s true.” Shien replied nonchalantly.

Lid, unconcerned, looked ahead, where the cliff face stood.

“Is this the place?”

Lid narrowed its eyes.

Shien didn’t answer, staring at the cliff face, magic power suddenly surging from his body.

“[Bestow: Dispel].”

Shien’s magic power transformed into a wave, washing over the cliff face.

“Hum!”

The next moment, the cliff face trembled and shimmered.

Soon, the cliff face vanished, revealing a cave.

A huge cave with a wide entrance, its diameter more than ten meters.

From within the cave, a previously undetectable magic power emanated.

It was an evil, chaotic, and oppressive magic power.

“This magic power…” Lid’s expression turned grim.

“Such a familiar magic power.” Shien said with a hint of sarcasm.

They both easily recognized it. This was the unique magic power of the Demonic Refining Ritual.

This meant…

“As expected, just as the Goddess of Nature said, there’s a hidden Demonic Refining Ritual here.”

Shien said slowly.

Yes. There was a hidden Demonic Refining Ritual here.

This was the information Nadue had given Shien. Before returning to the Divine Realm, she told him that she had been searching for the mastermind behind the ritual in the Tegor Forest.

“That person should be a member of the Old Demon Faction’s [Original Demon].”

Nadue had said this to Shien with certainty.

Because in the past, those who performed the Demonic Refining Ritual weren’t necessarily members of the [Original Demon], but third parties being used by them. Therefore, although dealing with the ritual itself wasn’t difficult, finding the true members of the [Original Demon] was extremely challenging. So far, neither the Demon Race nor the Divine Race had ever captured a true member, only those being used.

The Atlus Gorge incident was a prime example. They only managed to punish the Garibaldi family and the other nobles, but the true members of the [Original Demon] behind it all weren’t found.

But this time, Nadue was certain that the one causing trouble in the Tegor Forest was a member of the [Original Demon].

The reason for her certainty was simple.

“If it weren’t a member of the [Original Demon], with my power, I would have already found them.”

Nadue told Shien.

“But this time, it took me a lot of effort, which means they have some method of evading my detection.”

This method was clearly something only the [Original Demon] possessed. That oldest branch of the Old Demon Faction had always been wary of the Goddess of Nature, not only frequently changing their bases between the human world and the Demon Realm, but also developing methods to counter her power.

This time, after learning about the Demonic Refining Ritual, Nadue had been monitoring the Tegor Forest, trying to find the mastermind.

To her surprise, she couldn’t easily find them.

This, instead of discouraging Nadue, made her even more alert.

Because she realized that the person this time was likely a member of the [Original Demon], capable of evading her detection to some extent.

Therefore, Nadue monitored the Tegor Forest throughout the night, trying to find them.

Even if they had methods to avoid being directly detected, they couldn’t erase all traces.

After all, they were still living beings, needing to eat and leaving behind traces of their activities.

Even if these traces were deliberately erased, there would still be some unnatural signs. As long as Nadue continued to search and monitor, she could definitely find them and deduce their location.

It was because of this ability that Nadue was so feared by many.

Otherwise, Sara wouldn’t have been so wary of her, and the [Original Demon] wouldn’t have needed to constantly change their bases.

After a whole night of searching, Nadue finally found some clues.

These clues pointed to this cliff.

This was also one of the reasons why Nadue appeared before Shien and told him about this.

Thanks to this, Shien came here with Lid.

Lid was excited.

“If we can really capture a true member of the [Original Demon] this time, it will be a major breakthrough.”

Lid stared at the cave, sensing the unique magic power of the Demonic Refining Ritual emanating from within, and said seriously,

“Wait a moment. I’ll inform the demons scattered throughout the Tegor Forest and have them surround this place.”

Shien didn’t comment.

Surrounding the place was a good idea, just in case the rat they finally caught escaped.

“They should be performing the Demonic Refining Ritual inside now, right?” Shien curled his lip. “Hiding the ritual in a place like this, carefully capturing monsters from outside and throwing them in, performing the ritual this way is troublesome, but safe and difficult to be discovered and disrupted.”

This was a last resort.

Since the Beast Demon and the Ghost Demon were personally leading the search, with the [Original Demon]’s usual cautious style, they would naturally prefer a more troublesome method than a direct confrontation.

Therefore, they could only secretly perform the Demonic Refining Ritual in a hidden place, unlike before, when they directly used a monster habitat as the ritual site.

Unfortunately…

“They wouldn’t have expected that this time, the Goddess of Nature would descend and find their traces, discovering this place.”

Shien smiled playfully and said to Lid,

“I’ll go in first. What about you?”

Shien would definitely go in first.

This ritual had no effect on humans, but it would affect the minds of monsters and demons, making them fight amongst themselves. Moreover, it would also isolate the space inside the ritual from the outside world. Even if demons arrived and, like Jacinta last time, had methods to avoid being affected by the ritual, it would still take them a lot of effort to enter.

Shien couldn’t wait that long and didn’t want to give them too much time to react.

Since he had already discovered the ritual site, they would eventually realize it and take action.

If they came to confront him head-on, Shien wasn’t afraid.

He was only worried that, with the [Original Demon]’s cautious and cowardly style, they would retreat and flee without hesitation.

If that happened, Shien would have no way to deal with them.

Therefore, he had to go in first.

“Then let’s go in.” Lid also said decisively, “My subordinates should arrive soon after receiving my message and take action. We don’t need to wait for them.”

“Alright.” Shien nodded. “Let’s go in.”

“Yes.” Lid nodded.

The two instantly vanished, and the cliff returned to silence.

Only the evil magic power continued to spread.